Strange Science

The video above is simple footage of and information about the Conway area peacocks.
The main article can be read below. Photo gallery is at the end.

Iridescent shades of green and blue shimmer in the overhead sunlight, striking contrasts of grays and blacks and whites mingling with them as a fan-shaped plume sweeps outward gracefully. This ornate display of pride and beauty is an open invitation for all and any eligible females nearby to come and admire the fantastic, the handsome, the persnickety peacock.

No doubt a living creature as gorgeous and elegant as this would thrive handsomely in the yards of royalty, or tread the loamy soil of pleasantly accommodating zoos, but not this time. These strutting avians have come to call Central Florida  their home - right smack dab in the middle of a thriving suburban community!

The Indian blue peacock, native to India and Sri Lanka, can be found in abundance in a small part of Conway in Orange County. These birds have created quite a potent controversy amongst neighbors and county officials alike, and have not escaped the notice of news articles and bloggers.

This community of birds was first introduced to the Conway area in the 1950s as a single pair, male and female, brought as pets by their original owner. Since then, this particular group has flourished exceedingly, one of the strongest populations of peacocks in Florida, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s website.

At a weight range of 9 to 13 pounds, these feathery fellows aren’t the lightest in the flock.  Peacocks are not exceptionally good at flight, due to their large body mass and especially the long feather plumes of showy males, but they do have the wing power to flap their way up into a tree or onto a roof. This quickly poses a problem when the peafowl do decide to visit home owners’ rooftops to roost and explore - roof damage has been caused by their clawed little feet and rough landings.

A far cry from your average bird call, peacocks yell like no other bird can! Many neighborhood residents find this talkative bird to be a noisy nuisance, but other neighbors consider these ornamental animals to be both beautiful…and beneficial.

One such lady, whom we shall call “Maria”, had quite a story to tell. One day, early in the morning, the loud and distinct yowl of the peacocks created a disturbance near her house and her neighbor’s. Coming outside to see why the bird was acting up, she  saw an unidentified man attempting to flee from the area. Maria watched as her neighbor was able to  identify someone who was just about to steal his truck, alerted to the threat by one of the neighborhood loudmouth birds!

It would suffice to say that Maria believes the peacocks are a wonderful addition to the street where she lives, and has no qualms about them roosting and wandering in her yard, or stamping about up on her roof.

Many others share a heartwarming opinion of the birds. There was yet another neighbor, a full-time mom, who had much to say when asked about her feelings concerning these animals.

“I really think that the peacocks are a great addition to the neighborhood,” stated the mother, Kelly, ”They make it unique. They do get noisy sometimes, but only when a garbage truck passes, or sirens are going off nearby. They’re great watchdogs. They’re especially noisy right now because it’s mating season. The males are trying to get the females’ attention.”

Others, fed up with the peacocks romping through their yards and loosening the shingles on their roofing, don’t agree. Even people living miles away from the peacock habitat have strong opnions about the birds.

“Would I want to live on a street with all those peacocks? CERTAINLY NOT!” stated Nancy, a science teacher and invaluable asset to her local church. She lives many, many blocks away, and knows for certain that she wants no part of living alongside the annoying avians.

These opinions are not unfounded. While peacocks are definitely breathtaking animals to watch, they are not without plenty of negatives. Nancy went on to mention a few of these herself. Holding up traffic, waking the dead with shrieking calls, multiplying like nobody’s business and expecting to be hand-fed and doted on by human hands…yes, these peacocks are certainly causing a stir. So much so, in fact, that the Orange County Animal Control unit has to periodically drop by to relocate many of the birds just to keep the population from becoming an even bigger problem for home owners. In fact, approximately one year ago this month, there was a huge uproar between homeowners and the local government - the peacocks were going to be removed due to many complaints. Many residents in the area simply would not have it, devoted to their lovely feathered friends.

Yet, isn’t it bad enough that the people already living there have to cope with this issue now and again? What in the world happens when they want to eventually move out and sell their home?

According to homeowner Linda, these peacocks are a liability, not unlike owning an in-ground swimming pool. It may very well be a key selling point for certain people searching the market for their dream house, but there will always be someone who absolutely wants no part of it.

Kelly, who lives in a home right in the middle of the peacock population, looks outside her window every day to see a camphor tree teeming with the birds. She has no problem with the animals, and a fan of their “watch dog” qualities, bought her house after thoroughly researching the birds. She and her family knew exactly what they were going to get into, and didn’t mind.

Kelly admits that living amongst a plethora of exotic birds is not the lifestyle for everyone, and recommends careful thought before snatching up a nest egg amongst these colorful avian bird-brains. She also reassures concerned pet owners that these big birds have no interest in harming Fido or Kitty - in fact, the more unhappy truth is that the peacock chicks are more at risk for becoming a feline snack instead of vice versa.

Apart from their alertness and beauty, the peacocks do also cause a few other good reactions, to counter their negative effects. They are splendidly unique - not many neighborhoods can say they have them; they’re a real treat for bird watchers and nature lovers, and aren’t too shy of humans who want a closer look; they also may be an annoying road block, but effectively slow down residential traffic  - which means both animals and human beings alike can feel safer walking near the roads where people might otherwise be speeding more often.

Overall, these peacocks have really made an impression in Central Florida. They have become an attraction, an annoyance, a joy, a thorn in the side, and a mixed and bountiful blessing. If you’re anywhere nearby, check out the Orange County peacock family, nestled snugly in the Conway area.

Listen to what other peacock enthusiasts have had to say over the past couple of years about the bird population being “controlled”, and read what Conway reporter Chris Gent has to say about the ruckus one year ago in his news blog.

Photo gallery (photos taken by Silver Gummi Shark) 

     “If a ‘religion’ is defined to be a system of ideas that contains unprovable statements, then Gödel taught us that mathematics is not only a religion, it is the only religion that can prove itself to be one.”

– John Barrow

Did you know that nature, sweeping majestically and sublimely all around us, is just teeming with features of the mathematical realm, too? Symmetry, asymmetry, spirals, hexagons, circles, tessellations, and a huge bunch of other seemingly everyday math concepts are made alive and vibrant through snowflakes, rock formations, blossoming flower buds, chambered nautilus shells…just to name a few.

The Fibonacci sequence visible in the whorl of this seashell.

Now why not give math in nature a whorl? Er…”whirl.”

One of the starkest traces of math found in nature is something called the “Fibonacci sequence.”
“What in the world is a ‘Fibonacci’”, you ask? Well, the Fibonacci sequence (named after its discoverer) is a pattern of numbers that proceeds in this way, starting at 1:

1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34… and so on. The previous number adds on to the next number and on to the next, et cetera.

Skipping to the point, the pattern of these numbers ultimately creates an outward-reaching spiral that you can find fairly often if you just pause and take a closer look at a world that thrives all around us, even right at our feet.

A prime example, not unlike ornate common seashells, is the beautiful and ornate shell of the squid-like nautilus, which is a soft-bodied aquatic animal closely related to the squid and octopus. I lives snugly in a striped, curled shell, tucking itself inside when danger approaches.

The leaf-encircled stem of this plant can be divided in half, and the two halves mirror each other in symmetry!

It doesn’t stop there. Get a load of this - you can find magnificent spirals in the plant world - in sheer abundance. Most pine cones flourish this mathematical wonder, as is evidenced when you might turn one over and look at the flatter end. The spiky extensions (essentially, the seeds) branch out from the core in such a way that multiple spirals are formed and entwined.  The exquisite cone flower is also an excellent testament to the Fibonacci spiral. A handy number of succulent plants, which thrive by storing hearty supplies of water in their thick - almost rubbery - leaves, also show off their green glory in a twirling tapestry of top-notch beauty.

Oh, but there’s still more! It doesn’t end there, either. You’ll also notice another kind of math in the animal world - certain shapes, for instance.

Five-pointed flowers like this petunia are a great example of radial symmetry in nature - like slicing up an apple pie, this flower can be evenly divided into five "slices".

What is more familiar than the hexagonal home of the honeybee hive? Each of those little cells has six even walls that creates a mesh of hexagons - sturdy, strong, and safe. An excellent place for storing honey, and even the squirmy little larva that one day will become worker bees. Simple and elegant and precise.

So, now that you’ve seen a nice number of examples of numbers in nature, why not delve a little deeper? If you should, one day, be strolling out-of-doors and see beside you a potted array of flowers…just stop for a moment. Stop, and really look at what you’ve always seen.

Flowers can be taken for granted, simply because there are so many of them. Who thinks, the moment they see a massive field of poppies, “Gee, what a terrific sight. A true sea of petals, leaves, pistils, stamen, stems and roots.” It’s just as unlikely that someone staring at a common goldfish in its glass bowl will think, “Wow, just get a load of all those scales…the fibers of its fins…and the nerves on its back. It must be able to feel even really faint electric pulses with those nerves!”

An empty wasp's nest, with many round capsules for larva to grow inside.

 This second narrative actually has its roots in a story described by Southeastern University math teacher, Dr. Revell. His story was this: 
A college professor put a fishtank on a stand in front of his students. He told them to look at the fish, and to take notes. The students gave one another baffled looks and murmured amongst themselves, saying, “It’s just a fish.” But then, they understood. Their professor was not just asking them to stare at a little blob of fins and scales wiggling in a glass bowl. He was asking them to really look at it. Before long, the students were chattering about how the gleaming golden scales formed beautiful tapered patterns, and how delicate nerves formed a sensitive stripe along its back to sense predators in the sea.

The students had learned to look, and not just to see. We take the natural world for granted, making every leaf and every grain of sand into an oversight, caring only for the bigger picture and not for the parts of the whole.

“I believe that [even] young children can appreciate God’s handiwork in the spiders’ web,” stated the Director of Civil Engineering Services, Ken McCoig, 
“The older we get, we can appreciate the mathematical implications surrounding the creation of the nautilus shell and finally the balance displayed in our solar system and the ever expanding universe.”

The intricate and elegant spiral of silk, crafted diligently by the cunning spider.

With all the sheer majesty of nature, overwhelming and alluring the human race with its endless supply of thought-invoking solace and stunning diversity, we are left but to wonder of its very character…and of its source.

Below you’ll find an awesome video featuring scientist John Clayton, describing the properties of the Fibonacci spiral, as well as its application in all of nature - the the very daunting evidence that numbers in nature might hold more that we can even begin to imagine - or, heaven forbid…a divine Creator!

More images await your curious eyes here:

Whether or not you believe in a higher power, the big bang, evolution, or simply don’t care, there is something in nature for everybody. There is intricacy. There is simplicity. There are numbers. There are patterns. There is aesthetic beauty, for the sake of beauty. 

So, really.

Take time to stop and smell the flowers - don’t just see, but look. Really look. <3

 ”As long as algebra is taught in school, there will be prayer in school.”
 - Cokie Roberts

Now come on. Let’s be honest with ourselves.

There are few things quite as impressive as seeing seemingly ordinary birds getting down with their bad feathery selves on the forest dance floor.

You think I’m joking? I kid you not! Take a look for yourself.

The moonwalking club-winged manakin bird:

The flashy and brilliantly-colored bird of paradise:

The youTuber with a little too much spare time:

Borneo Island has been making serious waves in the scientific community as of recently - in fact, ever since 1996, they’ve been the source of discovery for over 400 newly-found species of animals! Check out MSNBC’s article on the topic - dated 2006, but a wealth of information and statistics for your viewing pleasure. 

In more recent news, a new specie of frogfish has been found this year, the Psychedelic Frogfish, which has forward-facing eyes and a bunch of other wild abilities! Just take a look at it in action in this video.